O2 Germany, part of Telefónica, has awarded LTE contracts to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei, following seven-month trials of the LTE equipment from both vendors. Initially targeting the metropolitan areas, the operator expects to roll out its LTE network at both 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz frequency bands. Huawei will be responsible for South and West Germany, while NSN will focus on the North and East areas within O2 Germany’s footprint.

During an event at the Mobile World Congress, Telefónica O2 Germany announced its next steps towards the launch of the new LTE technology today, as well as its technology partners for network rollout: Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Still in the 2nd quarter 2011, residents of those regions to which O2 supplies LTE at that time can use the new broadband technology. In rural areas, LTE is the long-awaited alternative to DSL.

"Finally the time has come: LTE is bringing fast Internet to the country as well. Thanks to our high speeds, customers in rural regions can now also watch videos online, download large data packages and play computer games, says René Schuster, CEO of Telefónica O2 Germany. "Covering these white spots is only the first step. As soon as the requirements of the Federal Network Agency are being fulfilled, we will offer LTE800 in the cities also. This could even happen in only a few months."

The technology partners for the LTE network rollout are Huawei Technologies in Southern and Western Germany and Nokia Siemens Networks in all other areas of the O2 network. The rollout in the rural areas is already in progress. Since September, O2 already operates LTE pilot networks in Munich / Ebersberg and in Halle / Teutschenthal. In these areas, large-scale friendly user tests have been carried out since December. They involve several hundreds of O2 customers and non customers testing the new technology at home free of charge for several months.

Telefónica O2 Germany GmbH & Co. OHG belongs to Telefónica Europe and is part of the Spanish telecommunication group Telefónica S.A. The Company offers its German private and business customers postpaid and prepaid mobile telecom products as well as innovative mobile data services based on the GPRS and UMTS technologies. In addition, the integrated communications provider also offers DSL fixed network telephony and high-speed internet. Telefónica Europe has about 55 million mobile and fixed network customers in Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.